Summary:
Nagpur: The news about former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s demise cast a pall of gloom over his innumerable associates in the city. Vajpayee visited Nagpur frequently and had many friends here who enjoyed hosting him.Remembering him as a very dear ‘chacha’, Roopa Rai, daughter of former Puducherry governor Rajani Rai says, “He was full of humour and had a heart of gold. I hugged him and congratulated him and we both had tears in our eyes,” says Rai.Whenever in Nagpur, Vajpayee would also visit the home of Sumatitai Suklikar. “When he became the prime minister for the first time, we had gone to Delhi and were watching him at his residence from a distance as the SPG would not let us go near him. On one such visit, he learnt that a Kavi Sammelan was underway at Mor Bhavan and we all went there with him..